Stroke; a journal of cerebral circulation
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White matter changes (WMC) are a common finding on brain imaging and are associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke. They are most frequent in small vessel stroke; however, in the absence of comparisons with normal controls, it is uncertain whether WMC are also more frequent than expected in other stroke subtypes. Therefore, we compared WMC in pathogenic subtypes of ischemic stroke versus controls in a population-based study. ⋯ In contrast to small vessel ischemic events, WMC were not independently associated with other pathogenic subtypes, suggesting that WMC are unlikely to be an independent risk factor for nonsmall vessel events.
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This study compares the concordance between arterial spin labeling (ASL) and dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) for the identification of regional hypoperfusion and diffusion-perfusion mismatch tissue classification using a quantitative method. ⋯ ASL-cerebral blood flow overestimates the DSC time to maximum hypoperfusion volume and mismatch classification in patients with acute ischemic syndrome. Continued overestimation of hypoperfused volume after recanalization suggests flow pattern and velocity changes in addition to arterial transit delay can affects the performance of ASL.
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Asymptomatic lacunar infarcts, white matter lesions, cerebral microbleeds, and enlarged perivascular spaces are MRI markers of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD). Higher blood pressure (BP) levels are associated with the presence of these markers separately, but the association with the total burden of cSVD on brain MRI, expressed by the simultaneous presence of multiple markers of cSVD (a compound score), has not been investigated. ⋯ We found a positive association of ambulatory BP levels with total burden of cSVD on brain MRI. With increasing BP levels, there is a piling up of damage in the brain. We suggest that further cSVD studies also consider viewing the total burden in addition to each of the MRI markers separately.
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Review Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Smoking as a risk factor for stroke in women compared with men: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 81 cohorts, including 3,980,359 individuals and 42,401 strokes.
It is currently unknown whether the excess risk of stroke by smoking is the same for women and men. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the effect of smoking on stroke in women compared with men. ⋯ Compared with nonsmokers, the excess risk of stroke is at least as great among women who smoke compared with men who smoke.